EDITORIAL: The fight over forest training

Published: Monday, March 17, 2014 at 05:06 PM.

The Daily News has received several letters in recent months from readers wondering why Eglin Air Force Base wants to expand its training to state forest land. Eglin is one of America’s largest military bases, they’ve pointed out. Doesn’t it have ample room for training on its own 460,000-acre range?
Not for this kind of training, Air Force officials say. The Eglin reservation is used mainly for weapons testing. Special operations units need space on the ground, too. State forest property is “a relief valve for us,” said Tom Tolbert, range planner for Eglin’s 96th Test Wing.
That’s little comfort to people who look with alarm at the Air Force’s request to use parts of Blackwater River State Forest and, farther east, Tate’s Hell State Forest in Franklin and Liberty counties. Training in those areas, officials say, would include helicopters flying in to drop troops, temporary campsites being set up and firefights with paintballs and smoke grenades.
The Florida Forest Service has OK’d the idea. An environmental impact statement is being prepared.
Among those rattled by Eglin’s plan are members of Audubon Florida. The conservation group has called the proposed training “far-reaching, expansive and overly intrusive.” It suggests, among other things, barring fixed-wing aircraft from the forests and restricting the time and duration of the exercises.
Whatever the military is allowed to do in the state forests, Audubon Florida said, will “require extraordinary care.”
We don’t doubt that Eglin authorities want to exercise precisely that kind of care. Once the environmental impact statement is ready, public hearings will be scheduled. Mike Spaits, Eglin’s environmental spokesman, says the military’s activities won’t interfere with whatever goes on in the forests now.
If skeptics are unconvinced, if they’re still afraid that helicopters and paintball-firing troops will damage parts of Blackwater and Tate’s Hell, they should remember this: Thanks to their efforts, the military's assurances and concerns expressed by groups such as Audubon Florida, we’ll have a pretty good idea how this training proceeds and how the forests are cleaned up afterward. A lot of eyes will be watching.

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The Daily News has received several letters in recent months from readers wondering why Eglin Air Force Base wants to expand its training to state forest land. Eglin is one of America’s largest military bases, they’ve pointed out. Doesn’t it have ample room for training on its own 460,000-acre range?
Not for this kind of training, Air Force officials say. The Eglin reservation is used mainly for weapons testing. Special operations units need space on the ground, too. State forest property is “a relief valve for us,” said Tom Tolbert, range planner for Eglin’s 96th Test Wing.
That’s little comfort to people who look with alarm at the Air Force’s request to use parts of Blackwater River State Forest and, farther east, Tate’s Hell State Forest in Franklin and Liberty counties. Training in those areas, officials say, would include helicopters flying in to drop troops, temporary campsites being set up and firefights with paintballs and smoke grenades.
The Florida Forest Service has OK’d the idea. An environmental impact statement is being prepared.
Among those rattled by Eglin’s plan are members of Audubon Florida. The conservation group has called the proposed training “far-reaching, expansive and overly intrusive.” It suggests, among other things, barring fixed-wing aircraft from the forests and restricting the time and duration of the exercises.
Whatever the military is allowed to do in the state forests, Audubon Florida said, will “require extraordinary care.”
We don’t doubt that Eglin authorities want to exercise precisely that kind of care. Once the environmental impact statement is ready, public hearings will be scheduled. Mike Spaits, Eglin’s environmental spokesman, says the military’s activities won’t interfere with whatever goes on in the forests now.
If skeptics are unconvinced, if they’re still afraid that helicopters and paintball-firing troops will damage parts of Blackwater and Tate’s Hell, they should remember this: Thanks to their efforts, the military's assurances and concerns expressed by groups such as Audubon Florida, we’ll have a pretty good idea how this training proceeds and how the forests are cleaned up afterward. A lot of eyes will be watching.